Step by step example to delete
or remove hidden files, folder or directory on Linux Fedora system using
rm command.

Using Linux rm
command on the bash shell command prompt to delete or remove file,
hidden file, folder, hidden folder and meta character filename and
folder name on Linux fedora core with example. This article
show the step by step guide on delete file or delete folder on Linux
system, make sure that the that you understand the rm command before you
execute them.

Linux command name: rm

Command description:

The
Linux 'rm' command is used to remove or to delete file and
directory.

How to remove or delete a file?

The command
above remove/delete the file called "install.log".
Use ls command to confirm the removal/deletion.

How to remove or delete several
file?

Remove more that one file in
one time.

[root@fedora /]# rm
install.logkambing.logsecure1.logconfig.docpasswd

rm: remove regular empty file `install.log'? y

rm: remove regular empty file `kambing.log'? y

rm: remove regular empty file `secure1.log'? y

rm: remove regular empty file `config.doc'? y

rm: remove regular empty file `passwd'? y

rm command
also can be used to remove or delete the several file at once, in this example
five files (
install.log,kambing.log,secure1.log,config.doc,passwd) is deleted at one go.

How to remove or delete files
that use metacharacter (character that mean something to the shell) as file
name?

If you have file or folder
name that use metacharacter or characters that mean something to shell,
you have to tell the shell prompt so that the shell could interpreted
that you want to remove files. Below is some example to remove the
metacharacter files:

[root@fedora /]# rm -r ./*important-file*

rm: remove
directory `./*important-file*'? y

[root@fedora /]# rm --
-not-important*

rm: remove
regular file `-not-important*'? y

[root@fedora /]# rm 'happy
rock hacking.mp3'

rm: remove
regular file `happy rock hacking.mp3'? y

To remove/delete
the file that contains a space or character which is used by the shell,
in this example;

*important-file*
The filename contain ( * )

-not-important*
The filename contain ( - ) in the beginning and ( * )

happy rock hacking.mp3
The file name use space

Put a single
quotes around them or force it using the current directory sign (
./ ) or
used rm -- option.

How to remove or delete all
files in current directory?

The example below show the rm
command use to delete all file in the current directory.

The rm command
above will remove or delete all file except the hidden files in that current
directory.

How to remove or delete a directory?

To remove the directory just
issue the rm command with the directory name, if the directory is not
empty you may get the same massage bellow:

[root@fedora /]# rm fedora/

rm: cannot remove directory `fedora/':
Is a directory

If you know that the
directory that you want delete (remove) is not empty and you are sure
that you want to remove the directory and all of its contents; issue the
rm command with the -r
option:

[root@fedora /]# rm -r fedora/

rm: descend into directory `fedora/'? y

rm: remove regular empty file `fedora//passwd.kambing'?
y

rm: remove regular empty file `fedora//.exploits'?
y

rm: remove regular empty file `fedora//.labu'? y

rm: remove regular empty file `fedora//passwd.log'?
y

rm: remove regular empty file `fedora//kambing.log'?
y

rm: remove regular empty file `fedora//secure1.log'?
y

rm: remove regular empty file `fedora//.SELinux'?
y

rm: remove regular empty file `fedora//install.log'?
y

rm: remove regular empty file `fedora//config.doc'?
y

rm: remove directory `fedora/'? y

The rm command
above with –r (recursive) option is to remove or delete the fedora directory
and all files and directory that contain in the directory that you want
to remove.

How to remove or delete everything
in current directory without warning?

Remove all files without any
warning from the system ( no message output to the screen).

[root@fedora ~]# rm –rf *

or

[root@fedora ~]# rm –rf ./*

The rm command
above with –rf (recursively and remove or delete write-protected file without
prompting) option will remove or delete everything in the current
directory without any warning.

WARNING : “rm
–rf *’ command will remove or / delete everything in current directory except
hidden file or directory in that current directory. Make sure that
you not in the root directory (
/ ) before you issue the command or you could end up with
empty and broken Linux box. Be careful, rm command can be a dangerous tool
if misused.

How to remove or delete all
hidden file or directory without warning?

Remove all file and directory
without any output to the screen,

[root@fedora /]# rm –rf .??*

With
the option –rf and the use "
.??* " will remove/delete all hidden files/directory.
The initial " .
" indicates a 'hidden' file and the " ??
" match at least two
characters to exclude the parent-directory which is " ..
" and to remove
or delete
everything the " *
" will match all number or characters that used for files
or directory name.

How to remove or delete file
base on (use) its inode / index number?

The example below show the
step to delete or remove the file base on the inode number.

Issue the
ls command with the -i
option to get the inode number for the file.

[root@fedora /]# ls -i

245242 sysdetails.txt

245243 tat
- display file or filesystem status

976527 test

245273 testscript.sh

245274 timate file space usage

245275 uptime.txt

245276 ystem disk space usage

Using the find command to find inode number for the file and then pass
to the rm command to delete the file base on their inode number.

Verify to make sure that the file have been remove by using ls
command.

[root@fedora /]# ls

sysdetails.txt

test

testscript.sh

timate file space usage

uptime.txt

ystem disk space usage

From the example
above, the ‘ls –i’ command is used to get the inode number of file
or directory
then the find command used to search for inode number "245243"
then give the inode number to rm command to remove or delete the file
base on the inode number given..

The following are some of the
flags and arguments that can be used with the rm command:

Remove (unlink)
the FILE(s).

-d, --directory
unlink FILE, even if it is a non-empty directory

(super-user only; this works only if your system

supports `unlink' for nonempty directories)

-f, --force
ignore nonexistent files, never prompt

-i, --interactive
prompt before any removal

--no-preserve-root do not treat `/' specially
(the default)

--preserve-root fail to operate recursively
on `/'

-r, -R, --recursive remove the
contents of directories recursively

-v, --verbose
explain what is being done

--help
display this help and exit

--version
output version information and exit

Note: if
you use rm to remove a file, it is possible to recover the contents
of that file. If you want more assurance that the contents are truly
unrecoverable, consider using shred.

Note:- On Fedora
Core using bash shell, the rm command is alias to rm='rm -i'.
The rm is the command to remove files or folder in Linux system but
there is no unrm or undelete or unremove command on Linux operating system. So be very careful on what you wish
to remove :-)

Warning: The rm command
can do many harm thing to your system, make sure that you double
check before executing the rm command.

I'm trying to remove a hidden directory alias but it's giving me a permissions denied. I tried doing sudo rm -r Directory/ but apparently i'm not the owner of it and I can't see who the owner is. It's driving me nuts. How can I remove it?

Hello
"How to remove or delete everything in current directory without warning?"
This topic really helps me, I was trying to delete some files in current directory, but showing me warning messages, again and again. Thanks for your tips.